Transdisciplinary integration and its implementation in primary education through two STEAM projects

Número especial: Educación STEAM: aportando pruebas de validez y efectividadSpecial issue: STEAM Education: contributing evidence of validity and effectivenessLa integración curricular desde una perspectiva STEAM transdisciplinar representa un profundo desafío. Este estudio profundiza en una comprensión transdisciplinar de la Educación Primaria y el rol del arte en dos proyectos STEAM a través del concepto de gran idea. Han participado 111 estudiantes de ocho grupos (11-12 años) de un programa para alumnado con altas capacidades, junto con cinco profesores y cuatro profesionales externos. Desde el rol de profesores e investigadores, se ha empleado la observación participante y no participante, grabaciones de vídeo, entrevistas individuales y grupales, diarios de clase y cuestionarios, triangulados y codificados a través de la Teoría de la Actividad mediante el software Atlas.ti8 y el análisis estadístico. Los resultados evidencian la significatividad del aprendizaje y la construcción de experiencias significativas, relacionadas con un grado elevado de motivación y de satisfacción, así como a la integración de diversas áreas en un proceso participativo, en el que el arte ha jugado un rol disciplinar e integrador. Se presenta una aproximación STEAM Transdisciplinar que podría resultar paradigmática para el ámbito de la Educción Primaria.Curriculum integration from a STEAM transdisciplinary perspective represents a profound challenge. This study delves into a transdisciplinary approach to primary education and the role of the arts through two STEAM projects in a programme for gifted students in Madrid (Spain). Participants include 111 students from eight groups (11–12 years old), five teachers and four external professionals. The teachers fulfill the dual role of both teacher and researcher, using participant and non-participant observation, video recordings, interviews and classroom journals and questionnaires. All the findings have been triangulated and coded by means of Activity Theory, using Atlas.ti8 software and statistical analysis. The results show the significance of learning and the creation of meaningful experiences as being related to a high degree of motivation and satisfaction, and to the integration of diverse areas in a participatory process in which the arts play a disciplinary and integrating role. A transdisciplinary STEAM approach is presented that could be paradigmatic for the field of primary education

Composition and energy determination in cosmic ray surface arrays: an application to the Pierre Auger Observatory

Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado 2012Esta tesis se enmarca dentro del estudio de los rayos cósmicos de ultra-alta energía, aquellos a los que se dedica el Observatorio Pierre Auger. Tras una breve introducción, en el segundo capítulo se resumen los aspectos básicos de la física de rayos cósmicos, desde su espectro de energía, composición y su posible origen, hasta las cuestiones que aún permanecen desconocidas. En el siguiente capítulo se describen las características singulares del Observatorio Pierre Auger y se muestran los resultados publicados más importantes hasta este momento. En los capítulos siguientes se abordan los temas centrales de este trabajo: la determinación de la energía y la composición de los rayos cósmicos de ultra-alta energía a partir de su detección con detectores de superficie. Inicialmente se analiza la determinación de la energía. Se ha propuesto una nueva técnica, y se ha demostrado su aplicabilidad en los detectores de superficie. Además, se ha mostrado que es significativamente mejor que la que se ha utilizado hasta hoy por parte de todos los experimentos de este tipo. En segundo lugar, se ha propuesto un nuevo parámetro sensible a la composición del rayo cósmico primario, el cual se determina a partir de la señal y la posición de los detectores de superficie para cada evento. Se han estudiado sus propiedades y se ha demostrado que es capaz de determinar la composición promedio de los rayos cósmicos de ultra-alta energía con mayor precisión que los parámetros más fiables que se están utilizando hoy en día. A continuación, se han explicado varios trabajos que se están desarrollando y en los que se seguirá trabajando en un futuro cercano, relacionados con ambos aspectos, la determinación de la energía y la composición, y se han resumido las conclusiones del trabajo. Para terminar, se han añadido varios apéndices y una extensa bibliografía

Quality assessment of Spanish scientific journals: analysis of their review processes

One of the basic duties of scientific journals is the evaluation of the papers that they publish. The most common practice is peer review, in which several experts determine the reliability of the ideas and results as well as the potential impact on science. Studying the documentation provided by the editors of Quality Assessment of Spanish Scientific Journals, 1st Edition, in 2008, we have analyzed some of the editorial practices in the evaluation process, such as external evaluation, instructions to referees, the existence of protocols to evaluate the articles and anonymity of those involved in the review. The  significance of our work is that the evaluation process has been checked independently of what is stated in the journal. We have verified that there is a lack of standardization in the evaluation process, which is symptomatic of the need for deeper professionalization

The design of a Teaching-Learning Sequence on simple machines in elementary education and its benefit on creativity and self-regulation

In this study, the process of design, implementation, evaluation, and redesign of a TeachingLearning Sequence (TLS) on simple machines for students of 9-12 years old is shown according to the principles of Design Based Research. The aim is to create a TLS that satisfactorily addresses the conceptual difficulties inherent to the object of study and that succeeds in fostering selfregulation skills and creativity. Both qualitative (focus group, semi-structured interviews, students’ reports, and teacher’s class notes) and quantitative instruments (a validated questionnaire and an ad hoc one with content validation by experts) are used. The statistical analysis of the questionnaires and the narrative analysis of the qualitative instruments have been triangulated. The results show that students manage to address the conceptual and procedural difficulties of the object of study while developing emotional (enjoyment and self-efficacy) and cognitive (metacognition) self-regulation skills, as well as creativity related to the scientific and artisan domains.En este estudio se muestra el proceso de diseño, implementación, evaluación y rediseño de una Secuencia de Enseñanza-Aprendizaje (TLS) en máquinas simples para estudiantes de 9 a 12 años de acuerdo a los principios de la Investigación Basada en Diseño. El objetivo es crear un TLS que aborde satisfactoriamente las dificultades conceptuales inherentes al objeto de estudio y que logre fomentar las habilidades de autorregulación y la creatividad. Se utilizan tanto instrumentos cualitativos (focus group, entrevistas semiestructuradas, informes de alumnos y notas de clase del profesor) como cuantitativos (un cuestionario validado y uno ad hoc con validación de contenido por expertos). Se ha triangulado el análisis estadístico de los cuestionarios y el análisis narrativo de los instrumentos cualitativos

Scenic: A Language for Scenario Specification and Scene Generation

We propose a new probabilistic programming language for the design and analysis of perception systems, especially those based on machine learning. Specifically, we consider the problems of training a perception system to handle rare events, testing its performance under different conditions, and debugging failures. We show how a probabilistic programming language can help address these problems by specifying distributions encoding interesting types of inputs and sampling these to generate specialized training and test sets. More generally, such languages can be used for cyber-physical systems and robotics to write environment models, an essential prerequisite to any formal analysis. In this paper, we focus on systems like autonomous cars and robots, whose environment is a "scene", a configuration of physical objects and agents. We design a domain-specific language, Scenic, for describing "scenarios" that are distributions over scenes. As a probabilistic programming language, Scenic allows assigning distributions to features of the scene, as well as declaratively imposing hard and soft constraints over the scene. We develop specialized techniques for sampling from the resulting distribution, taking advantage of the structure provided by Scenic's domain-specific syntax. Finally, we apply Scenic in a case study on a convolutional neural network designed to detect cars in road images, improving its performance beyond that achieved by state-of-the-art synthetic data generation methods.Comment: 41 pages, 36 figures. Full version of a PLDI 2019 paper (extending UC Berkeley EECS Department Tech Report No. UCB/EECS-2018-8

Análisis de buenas prácticas editoriales en igualdad de género en España

Scientific journals play a key role in the dissemination of research as the main channel for its transmission and, therefore, should contribute to the promotion of gender equity through their editorial policies and publication processes. This study analyzes various indicators with respect to editorial policies such as the use of inclusive language, the inclusion of the full name in the authorship and gender in the source data. It also includes indicators related to the visibility of women in the publication process, such as their presence on editorial committees, in editorial management tasks and in manuscript review processes. The study covers 301 quality Spanish scientific journals. The results are analyzed according to the thematic areas of the journals and their publishers. This analysis represents a new milestone in this field as it raises awareness and disseminates standards in scientific publishing to eliminate gender barriers.Las revistas científicas, como canal de transmisión de la investigación, deben contribuir a la promoción de la igualdad de género a través, tanto de sus políticas editoriales, como en sus procesos de publicación. Este estudio analiza diversos indicadores respecto a las políticas editoriales como el uso de lenguaje inclusivo, la inclusión del nombre completo en las autorías y del sexo en los datos de origen de los casos de estudio. También otros relacionados con la visibilidad de la mujer en los procesos de publicación como son su presencia en comités asesores, en tareas de gestión editorial y en los procesos de revisión. El estudio abarca 301 revistas científicas españolas de calidad. Los resultados se analizan en función de las áreas temáticas de las revistas y su entidad editorial. Este análisis representa un hito novedoso ya que supone una toma de conciencia y una difusión de estándares en la edición científica para eliminar barreras de género

Using gamification in a teaching innovation project at the University of Alcala: a new approach to experimental science practices

Pre-service teachers frequently express negative prejudices towards science and the methodologies traditionally used during their training. Gamification is a booming technology based on combining the psychological aspects, mechanics and dynamics of a game in non-ludic environments. The use of gamification has shown good outcomes in terms of increasing students´ motivation towards the sciences. In this study, new laboratory practices were developed under the umbrella of gamification methodology for pre-service teachers. The general objectives were to eliminate negative prejudices, fear and rejection attitudes towards science, to foster the conceptual and procedural learning of science among students and to provide students with real-life examples and an experience of applying gamification themselves. First, the theoretical basis of the main components and dynamics of gamification in the Education context are summarized. Secondly, their application in a specific subject from the curriculum for the Teaching Training in Primary Education degree (Didactics of Natural Science (DNS), 3rd year) are presented. The methodology was applied twice in laboratory practice in two consecutive academic years: 2017/2018 (5 groups, 150 students ) and 2018/2019 (6 groups, 183 students) . The steps, dynamics, components and the tools used for the gamification experience are described (i.e. Kahoot, Class Dojo). Several pre and post-tests were carried out to explore: (i) the students' relationship with games; (ii) their preferred role as players; (iii) their assessment of the different elements involved in the gamification methodology; (iv) their motivation towards science laboratories attitude and (v) their self-perception with regards to their newly acquired skills to put gamification into practice in their professional future.Universidad de Alcal

Training in the Primary Education Teacher Degree in STEM disciplines: Analysis before its reform in Spain

La nueva Ley de Educación, conocida como LOMLOE, incluye entre otros cambios y por vez primera la competencia STEM con entidad propia. En consonancia, se propone una reforma de los planes de estudio de los Grados de Magisterio en Educación Primaria, para lo cual resulta indispensable un análisis profundo y global de dicha formación inicial. En este estudio se abordan los siguientes objetivos: i) comparar la distribución de créditos en las disciplinas STEM y sus didácticas; ii) comprobar si predominan los contenidos científico-matemáticos o los didácticos; iii) analizar los contenidos de Tecnología e Ingeniería; iv) comparar estos aspectos entre universidades públicas y privadas. Para ello, se revisan los planes de estudios de las 37 universidades públicas y 22 privadas que ofertan el Grado de Magisterio en Educación Primaria en el curso 2020-2021. Se analizan las guías docentes de las 342 asignaturas obligatorias de las disciplinas relacionadas, atendiendo a sus contenidos y a su temporalización, y se realiza un estudio descriptivo e inferencial. Los resultados muestran que las universidades públicas dedican más créditos a la formación en las disciplinas STEM, especialmente a los contenidos disciplinares de matemáticas y ciencias, existiendo una importante dispersión en los datos. En las universidades públicas, los contenidos disciplinares predominan sobre los didácticos, especialmente en ciencias. En cuanto a la tecnología, los contenidos son propios de las llamadas Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación, y no de la Tecnología entendida desde STEM. Por su parte, la Ingeniería y el propio enfoque global STEM están ausentes. Este análisis revela la necesidad de renovar los planes de estudio con contenidos adaptados a lo que demanda la LOMLOE, fundamentalmente, incluyendo aspectos de Tecnología e Ingeniería desde una perspectiva STEM.The new Law of Education in Spain, known as LOMLOE, includes for the first time the STEM competence with its own entity, among other changes. Accordingly, a reform of the curricula of the Primary Education Teaching Degrees is proposed, for which a deep and global analysis of this initial training is essential. Thus, the objectives that guided this study included the following: i) to compare the distribution of credits among STEM disciplines and their didactics; ii) to check whether scientific-mathematical or didactic content predominates; iii) to analyse the contents of Technology and Engineering; and iv) to compare these aspects between public and private universities. To that end, the study plans of the 37 public and 22 private universities that offered the Primary Education Teaching Degree in the 2020-2021 academic year were analysed. The teaching guides of the 342 compulsory subjects of the associated disciplines were evaluated, considering their contents and their timing, and a descriptive and inferential study were carried out. The results show that public universities allocate more credits to training in STEM disciplines, especially to the disciplinary content of mathematics and science, while there is a significant dispersion in the data. In public universities there is a major focus on disciplinary content, especially in science. Regarding technology, the contents are specific to Information and Communication Technologies, and not to technology understood from the STEM perspective. In addition, engineering and the global STEM approach itself are absent. This analysis reveals the need to renew the curricula with contents that are more adapted to what the LOMLOE demands and, above all, explicitly including aspects of technology and engineering with a STEM approach